Only six episodes remain to explore Strange New Worlds.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is nearing the end of its five-year mission on Paramount+. Season 4 officially joined the annals of streaming and television history with the intriguing time-travel finale, “Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” which took a break from exploring genres outside the realm of science fiction. And SNW co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman reveals in a new interview that “there will be essentially no genre hoping” in season 5’s truncated allotment of six episodes.
“It’s definitely still an episodic show, but to some people's delight and others' dismay, there will be essentially no genre hopping,” Goldsman said (per Collider). “Which isn't to say the tones of the episodes aren’t different, but they are fundamentally a suite of episodes that are about our goodbyes to those characters.”
Unfortunately, some Star Trek fans didn’t appreciate many of the big swings Strange New Worlds continued to take during the course of season 4. The crew of the USS Enterprise played around in comedic (“Human Best Friend”), film noir (“A Case of Chiaroscuro”), and even soap opera (“Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass”) sandboxes, and many Trek enthusiasts voiced their displeasure on social media.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed Strange New Worlds’ puppet episode (“Level-Five Transporter Accident”) accident because I’m a fan of the Muppets, in addition to loving Star Trek. However, I believe it was easier for some fans to swallow the horror episode, “The Griffin Incident,” since Trek has often and successfully explored the macabre over the years dating all the way back to The Original Series’ debut in 1966: “The Man Trap.”
Critics’ reviews led to Strange New Worlds season 4 being “Certified Fresh” — at 90 percent — just like all the other seasons of SNW. However, when I checked the Popcornmeter, formerly called the Rotten Tomatoes audience score, I was shocked to see that season 4 clocked in at only 34 percent. And that’s the lowest RT score of the entire series!
What do you think about Strange New Worlds season 4 overall? Are you glad season 5 will avoid “genre hopping,” as Goldsman put it? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And the SNW season 4 finale, “Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” is now streaming on Paramount+.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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